BY all accounts, 2014 was a bit of a scunner for Paul Lawrie.

He played in only 16 events for a start. Some of we golf writers played in more on our own little freebie circuit. His best result on the tour was a share of 11th in Qatar way back in January; he finished outside the top 100 on the European money list for only the third time in 22 years; and he slithered down to 284th on the world rankings.

This time two years ago, Lawrie was flying high at No.29 on the global pecking order. Throw in a variety of niggling neck, shoulder and foot injuries, as well as the usual woes with the putter, and the Aberdonian's campaign was about as fulfilling as a week spent attempting to gouge out a slab of granite from Rubislaw quarry with a bent soup spoon.

Going to September's Ryder Cup at Gleneagles as a spectator, just 24 months after being one of the Europe heroes in the Miracle of Medinah, provided another hefty dunt to the morale. "I had never been a spectator before and I hated every second of it," said the 1999 Open champion. " I had no right to think I should be playing but when you've played in the previous one and you turn up to watch them from a stand with the woolly hat and freezing your b******s off, it's nae great."

In this infuriating pursuit of wildly fluctuating fortunes, you have to try to look on the bright side. Mercifully for Lawrie, 2014 is gradually creaking to a close. The new year is the chance for a new start. "Everyone has moments when they get down on themselves and I'm no different," he added. "I'm quite a positive person but, every so often, you think 'man, I've had enough of this'.

"It doesn't last long but it is pretty hard to be positive when you are coming off the back of just 16 events and finishing one hundred and something in the order of merit. You get days when you feel like you'll win tournaments and others when you struggle to get out of bed and think your career is over. I'm over that now and ready to get going."

When Lawrie gets going, he tends to get going to his own bustling golf centre on the outskirts of his home city. It is here that he can get to work on those areas of the game that are a constant work in progress. "It's fantastic," he enthused of his own customised practice paradise which has all the latest gizmos, including TrackMan, the hi-tech measuring device that crunches all the numbers about ball flight and spews out more info and data than an explosion at the National Library. There is plenty of innovation in this bay but, more importantly, there is inspiration.

"It's a place to work but there will be a couple of pictures going up, one being of Marian [his wife], the kids and me, and one of Adam [Hunter, his late coach] and me," said Lawrie of that family snap and the image of his Open-winning embrace with Hunter, who lost his battle with leukemia three years ago. "There are two chairs and a little fridge and above that will be a picture of Adam when he gave me a hug at the Open in 1999. That was the moment and the person that made me the golfer I am. And when I look at it just makes me want to hit balls and keep going.

"I remember going to see Adam in hospital and he had tubes coming out of him and he was having a real go at me for doing the Ryder Cup commentary at Celtic Manor [in 2010]. I was out of shape and not practising hard enough, which you could tell by my results, and he had an unbelievable go at me You need someone like that now and again to tell you 'listen pal, just to get on with it and stop moaning and stop groaning'. I have to just get out there and get the work done and that picture will be enough, hopefully, for that to continue."

Lawrie will turn 46 on New Year's Day. In just four years, he'll be eligible for life on tour with the golden oldies of the Senior circuit. In the sprightly figures of Miguel Angel Jimenez, the 50-year-old wine-sipping, cigar -puffing Spaniard, and the evergreen 57-year-old German, Bernhard Langer, Lawrie has plenty of inspiring veterans to venerate.

The Scot is not ready for senior service just yet, though. "I would like to play in one more Ryder Cup team; I feel as though I've got that in me and those are the two guys you look up to most at their age as to how they are performing," said Lawrie. "I mean some of the positions Miguel gets into in his warm-up are incredible. Maybe it's the wine?"

Lawrie's days of wine and roses are not over just yet.